


Pregnant Pause

by cycnus39



Category: Batman (Comics), Iron Man (Comic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 15:37:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1121581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cycnus39/pseuds/cycnus39
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce has to deal with Tony's unexpected guest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pregnant Pause

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place about ten years before my Bruce/Clark stories.

One moment he was sound asleep and the next he was awake in a blaring noise, tensed for action, heart hammering in his mouth as he searched the room for danger.

Tony.

When he managed to focus, he saw Tony dancing around half naked while getting dressed. A second later, his addled mind recognised the room as Tony’s bedroom and the blaring noise as the guitar intro to ‘Sharp Dressed Man’.

There were times he felt like throttling Tony but at that moment he was too tired to even think about doing anything so energetic, just flopped back on the mattress and crossed his arms over his face. Unfortunately, Tony noticed he was awake and started shouting at him over the music.

“Hey, look at that. You’re not dead! I was beginning to think I’d have to call Alfred and give him the sad news.”

Tony’s weight hit the mattress and then Tony’s body was half on top of his, smelling of soap and aftershave, still warm and slightly damp from the shower.

“I have to go out to the test range. It’s just a quick thing,” Tony told him with a nip then a soothing kiss on his chin. “I’ll only be an hour.”

Tony moved away again and he lost the sound of Tony’s movements around the room in the blaring music. However, a few minutes later, the music stopped and the aroma of coffee made him move his arms away from his face to find Tony, perfectly dressed in a beautifully tailored suit and screaming tie, grinning down at him with two mugs of coffee in hand.

“Now this is for you,” Tony said, offering him the left mug. “I know you’ll use it wisely,” Tony went on amusedly while watching him elbow up and take the mug.

The coffee was good, hot and strong, and, together with the affectionate kiss Tony planted on the top of his head, put him in a more amiable mood.

“Anything wrong?” he asked after a second drink of coffee and Tony leaned down to kiss him on the mouth then straightened up with a shrug.

“Nothing a bit of charm won’t solve.”

“Who are you going to pay to charm them?”

Tony finished taking a swig from his own mug then gave him a dry look. “You’re hysterical, Bruce, but do the world a favour and stay out of comedy.” Tony kissed him again and then turned away to head out the room. “You’ll have to go out for breakfast but I’ll go with you if you can wait till I get back.”

Tony walked out and, a few seconds later, he heard the front door of the penthouse open and then slam closed.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

For a few minutes, he lay in Tony’s bed in Tony’s New York penthouse, drinking Tony’s coffee, listening to the silence and watching dust motes dance in the afternoon sun. When the coffee was finished, he put the empty mug on the bedside table and rolled off the mattress, walked through into the bathroom.

He took longer to shower and shave than usual but had still finished in the bathroom ten minutes later and was walking back out into the bedroom, naked and drying his hair with a towel, when the door buzzer sounded. Frowning, he walked through the penthouse towards the front door, was staring at the figure displayed on the security screen mounted by the doorframe when he was still halfway through the main sitting area.

There was a pregnant woman at Tony’s door.

A very heavily pregnant woman.

Why was there a very heavily pregnant woman at Tony’s door?

He knew the answer couldn’t be a good one, didn’t particularly want to find out what it was, but knew he couldn’t just leave the woman standing there. Securing the towel he had been using to dry his hair around his hips, he opened the door.

“Tony--” the woman began then broke off with a scowl. “Where’s Tony?” she demanded, but didn’t wait for an answer, barged past him into the penthouse. “TONY!” she shouted with enough edge in her voice to send Tony rushing out the emergency exit if Tony had been in. “I need to speak to you now!”

“He’s not here,” he told her, closing the front door. “I’m afraid you just missed him.”

“TONY!” she bellowed, walking off to check the rest of the penthouse as if he hadn’t spoken.

He waited by the front door until she came back from her search and gave him an exasperated look.

“Well? Where the hell is he?”

“He left about fifteen minutes ago.”

She just stared at him.

“Sorry,” he offered.

She blinked and then finally seemed to take in that he was standing there, dripping wet, in nothing but a towel, and her eyes widened before she covered her mouth with her hands.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” she freed her mouth to say but still looked aghast. “You must think I’m some insane pregnant woman. Ugh.” She began fanning herself. “I think I need to sit down.”

He quickly stepped over and helped her down onto the left couch. “Are you all right? Can I get you--”

“No, I’m fine, but you need to get some clothes on. Seriously. Clothes. Now,” she returned, fanning herself more vigorously. “We can’t have a conversation with you all wet skin and muscle and things.”

He studied her carefully. She looked like she could be full term but didn’t appear to be in the kind of distress that would indicate imminent labour.

“Oh, don’t look so worried.” She waved him off. “I’ll be fine as soon as you stop hovering around me all naked. Do you always run around other peoples’ houses like that? If so, how much do you charge?”

“Point taken,” he replied with a smile. “I’ll be right back.”

As he turned for the bedroom, she called after him, “And tell Tony I’m not leaving until I see him.”

He didn’t respond, just kept going, shut the bedroom door behind him and then picked up the bedside table phone and dialled Tony’s cell while salvaging yesterday’s clothes from the floor.

“Miss me already?” Tony answered over the sound of rushing air. “I--”

“Why is there a heavily pregnant woman sitting on your couch?” he interrupted.

Silence.

“Tony?”

More silence.

Then Tony said low, “There’s a pregnant woman on my couch?”

“A heavily pregnant woman.”

“What’s her name?”

“She didn’t say.”

“Well, can you ask her?”

“No.”

“Then what does she look like?”

“She looks pregnant, Tony. Get back here because I’m not dealing with this and she says she’s not leaving until she sees you.”

“What else did she say?”

“Get back here,” he repeated and hung up.

He had put on his underwear and was pulling on his trousers when his cell rang. Buttoning up his trousers, he crossed to where his coat hung on closet door and fished his cell out of the inside pocket. As soon as he hit answer, Tony started speaking.

“Bruce, I know this--”

“I’m expecting you here in ten minutes.”

“Could you--”

“No.”

“Could you possibly let me finish a sentence?”

“The only sentence I want to hear you say is ‘I’ll be there in ten minutes’.”

“You know I only like being bossed around in bed, Bruce.”

“If you’re not here in ten minutes you’ll be bossing yourself around in bed, Tony.”

“Oh, now that’s harsh.”

“Ten minutes,” he returned then ended the call and tossed his cell on the bed. He was pulling on his shirt when it rang again.

“I’m on my way back, okay?” Tony said as soon as he answered. “But could you do me a favour and at least tell me what she looks like?”

“Pregnant.”

Tony growled a sigh. “Besides that.”

“Your type.”

“Would you care to elaborate?”

“Glamour model.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly.”

“Do you think I’ll remember her when I see her?”

“Don’t you usually remember the people you’ve had sex with?”

“Um...maybe? And who said anything about me having slept with her?”

“She’s a woman who knows your elevator security code. What are the odds of you not having slept with her?”

“Point, but I’ll have you know I’ve always been very careful about sexual health issues.”

“Ah-huh.”

“I have!”

“She’s pregnant, in your penthouse waiting to talk to you and you’re worried about not remembering her.”

“That’s purely circumstantial.”

“Goodbye, Tony.” He ended the call and then switched his cell off, put it back into his coat’s inside pocket and then walked out the bedroom buttoning up his shirt.

“Hi, stranger.” The woman grinned at him from the couch as he entered the main area again. “What did his highness say?”

He crossed the floor and walked around to the far side of the coffee table to sit down on the right side couch before answering. “He’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“Wow, I am impressed. I was expecting to be camped out here for a month.”

“I think it’s generally accepted that giving birth in a hospital is safer when it’s your first.”

Her gaze narrowed dangerously. “What makes you think she’s my first?”

“It was just a guess. Congratulations. Have you picked out a name?”

“You mean like Antonia?” she returned.

He shrugged. “I was just making conversation.”

“Is that what you call it? Well you’re not very good at it, Mr...?”

“I’m Bruce.” He stood up to offer his hand.

She shook it with an amused smile. “I’m Cin. With a c, of course.”

“Of course.” He stood away. “Can I get you a drink or would you like something else?”

“I’d like to give birth and stop waddling around like giant, elephant-eating duck but there’s nothing you can do about that, Bruce.”

“No,” he agreed, sitting back down. “But, if you don’t mind me saying so, you’re--”

“If you tell me I’m glowing, I swear I’ll throw you out the window.”

He put up his hands defensively. “Beautiful. I was going to say beautiful.”

“Yeah, that’s why people stare at me on the street.”

“I hope you haven’t thrown any of them out a window?”

“No, but I socked some guy who tried to touch my belly last week. Where do these freaks get off? And I don’t even want to think about what gets them off,” she growled and then eyed him carefully. “So, Bruce, how do you know Tony?”

“Business dealings,” he replied lightly. “I own a similar company. It’s all very boring.”

“I bet,” she commented as if she didn’t believe a word.

“What about you?” he countered. “Do you always turn up at the homes of your ex-boyfriends unannounced?”

She raised an eyebrow at his bluntness then smirked. “Only the rich, good-looking ones, Bruce, and if you’re as rich as you are handsome, I bet you have more than your fair share of lady callers too.”

“Not pregnant ones.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Why not? Do you have something against pregnant ladies, Bruce?”

“I have nothing against ladies of any description, Cin.”

“Oh, now an outside observer might think that was a little bitchy, Bruce.”

“I can’t think why.”

She studied him for a moment before saying softly, “I’m not here to hurt Tony. I’m not here to hurt anyone.”

“So why did you have your husband drive you all the way from Ottawa?”

She gawped at him before demanding, “Just how the hell did you know that? Has Tony been spying on me?”

“Tony doesn’t have people spied upon. If you knew him you’d know that.”

“Like you know him, Bruce? Just what exactly are these ‘business dealings’ you two are having?”

“I’m afraid that’s confidential.”

“I bet it is!” she snapped back at him but then said low, “This isn’t what you think it is.”

“I don’t recall saying I thought it was anything.”

“No, you just assumed. An unexpected woman turns up on a doorstep expecting and you immediately assume she’s scheming for something that isn’t hers.”

He sat back on the couch and crossed his arms. “I said nothing of the sort.”

“No, you’ve just been making bitchy remarks since I arrived and you still haven’t told me how you know we drove down from Ottawa.”

“Because you didn’t fly.”

She sighed and closed her eyes. “You’re giving me a headache.” Then she looked at him again and smiled. “I honestly don’t know if I like you or hate you, Bruce, but you are supremely annoying.”

“That is the general consensus,” he agreed. “I’m sure you would be having a lot more fun talking to Tony.”

“Yes, you have ruined my fun,” she laughed. “I hope you feel guilty. Fun is hard to come by when your due date is looming and your husband is convinced you’ve suddenly morphed into a Virgin Mary porcelain doll. Sorry. Too much information there. But think yourself lucky I’m not one of those boring women who talk about cramps and water retention all the time.”

There wasn’t anything he could say to that so he just smiled politely.

She grinned wickedly back at him. “You’re just dying for Tony to arrive, aren’t you?”

“Oh yes.”

“You’re not going to tell him I have a darling husband who drove me all the way from Ottawa, are you?”

“No.”

“You’re a very terrible man.”

“Only when warranted.”

“And what did poor Tony do to deserve this?”

“The only thing poor about Tony is his taste in ties.”

She laughed so loud she felt she had to cover her mouth. “Ouch. Remind me not to annoy you, Bruce.”

“If your taste in specialist outlet maternity wear is anything to go by, you’ve nothing to worry about, Cin.”

“Clever and flattering? If I wasn’t already married, you might have been in with a chance.”

“Life’s full of disappointment,” he returned, distracted by Tony appearing on the penthouse door’s security screen balancing a thirty-inch square parcel in his arms.

“Is it just the security camera setting or does he look a little pale?” Cin asked.

Ignoring her, he got up and opened the door.

Tony did look pale and horribly nervous and, for a second, he almost felt guilty. But then Tony said, “Your clothes hot off the Alfred express,” and shoved the parcel into his arms before going on to say, “If you stopped working out as if you had something to prove, you could borrow my clothes,” and that just annoyed him again.

“Stopped working out, lived on coffee and cheese puffs, and had a couple of vertebrae removed,” he returned, grabbing Tony and pulling him into the penthouse.

As Tony jerked away from him then froze staring at Cin, he closed the door and then leaned against the doorframe to watch the show.

Nothing happened.

Tony just stood there staring at Cin and Cin just sat there waiting for Tony to say something.

After twenty seconds, he poked Tony with a corner of the box and Tony said, “Hi.”

“Hi yourself,” Cin immediately replied.

“How are you?”

“Pregnant.”

“Yeah. It’s hard not to notice that.”

“You don’t remember me, do you?”

Tony visibly winced. “Uh...were you that dancer with the--”

“No.”

“My date to--”

“No.”

Silence.

“Are you sure?” Tony tried.

“I worked for you for five years,” Cin growled back.

Tony shifted uncomfortably. “You did?”

“Yes.”

“Did we...”

“Ah-huh.”

“At the Christmas party?”

“Bingo.”

Tony shoved his hands in his trouser pockets and looked down at the floor. “So...”

“So I’m here about my insurance,” Cin finished for him.

Tony blinked up at her. “Your insurance?”

“My medical insurance. When I left the company, you said you’d make sure I got the full pay out when I needed it.”

“I did?”

“You did. And guess what? I need it. But when I called that dickhead Rowlands in personnel, he said my insurance was no longer on the company books.”

“He did?”

“He did.”

Tony shrugged. “I’m sorry. I must have forgotten about it.”

“Yeah, remembering my name would have probably helped with that.”

Tony winced again. “I’ll write you a check.”

He watched Tony walk through into the study then turned his attention to Cin. She met his gaze without hesitation.

“I was a security guard on the fifth floor for five years,” she told him quietly. “The pay out is thirty grand. You can look it up if you don’t believe me.”

“I believe you,” he returned low. “Now let him off the hook.”

“How much do I owe you?” Tony asked while walking back into the main area, chequebook in hand.

“Thirty thousand,” she answered. “You can make it payable to my husband.”

Tony stopped at the arm of the right couch and stared her. “Your...you’re married?”

Cin smiled. “Have been for the last two years.”

“But we...”

“Three years ago.”

Tony stared at her for another four seconds, screwed his eyes tight shut and then shook his head before looking at her again. “You mean you haven’t seen me in three years?”

“Not a hair,” she confirmed.

“Thank God.” Tony collapsed on the couch in relief only to quickly sit up straight when he noticed her glaring. “Ah. That didn’t--”

“You’re a pig, Tony.”

“I know.” Tony grabbed a pen out of the fruit bowl in the centre of the coffee table. “But I keep my promises. What’s his name?”

“James Ellis.”

Tony wrote out the cheque then handed it over to her with a genuine smile. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” She took the cheque, tucked it away in her purse and then let Tony help her to her feet before looking him in the eye. “You still don’t remember my name, do you?”

Tony laughed nervously. “Are you going to tell me?”

She gave Tony a wry smile and a light kiss on the cheek. “Goodbye, Mr Stark.”

As she turned away from Tony to walk towards the door, Tony mouthed to him, “What’s her name?”

Ignoring Tony, he took the hand Cin offered him.

“Goodbye, Bruce. It was nice meeting you.”

“You too.” He opened the door for her. “Have a safe journey home.”

She smiled and left and he closed the door behind her.

“Well?” Tony asked.

“Well what?” he returned easily.

“What’s her name?” Tony hissed. “I know she told you, Bruce.”

“So?”

“So tell me!”

“No.” He turned and walked off towards the bedroom.

Tony gave chase. “Why the Hell not?”

“She’s your ex. You should know.”

“And I suppose you could name every one of your one night stands?”

Reaching the bedroom doorway, he turned to face Tony. “Name, give a full physical description and state the date it happened.”

Tony’s gaze narrowed spitefully. “I hate it when you’re smug.”

“I know.” He walked into the bedroom, dropped the box on the bed and started unbuttoning his shirt.

Following him into the room, Tony said, “Hey, since I’m suddenly thirty grand lighter, how about buying me breakfast before you go?”

He looked up to find Tony smiling speculatively at him. “I thought you had people to charm?”

“I rescheduled.”

“Fine.” He stripped off the shirt and dropped it on the bed. “Give me a minute to change.”

One moment he was reaching for the box of clothes and the next Tony was pushing him down onto the mattress, taking his mouth in a demanding kiss.

“It’s breakfast, Bruce, not the walk of shame,” Tony broke the kiss to say and then nipped his bottom lip, pressed in hard against him. “On second thoughts, you’re going to need those fresh clothes when we’re done.”

 

 

End


End file.
